


The Dark Heart of Geth: An Oxventure Tale

by tnnyoh



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Oxventure (Web Series)
Genre: Character Death, Curses, Dark, Dark Magic, Depressing, Destruction, Eldritch, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mentioned Cthulhu (Cthulhu Mythos)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23680300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: The sky was red, not the pretty  colors of a sunset to indicate the end of another day, but the color of warning and of danger, at the horizon line there were strange fast moving clouds.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	1. Warm Welcome

As thunder rumbled overhead, five people gathered inside The Rusty Occlusion and spent their early evening drinking and talking in the group of many things, bringing up their studies, bringing up their wishes for the future, and some were talking about food, except one person who looked exhausted and a little green, which considering his yellow scales, made him look a little blue as well.

Corazón set his drinking glass down and looked over at Egbert “Yo, Edgy, what’s up?”

The dragonborn shrugged and took a weary sip of his drink “I’m just feeling weird… my stomach feels like it’s in knots”

“Are you nervous?” Dob asked

“I don’t think so”

“Maybe it was that plate of hot wings you ate” Merilwen offered

“But I’m fire-proof”

“Fire resistant” Corazón corrected “and, maybe it wasn’t the hot wings… maybe it was the five bottles of alcohol you had _after_ the hot wings, and then the large tray of minced fish”

Egbert groaned and grabbed at his stomach “Maybe you’re right, I should lay off the junk….” he pushed the remainder of his alcohol away and stood “I guess I’ll head back to the ship, see if I can sleep it off”

“Don’t vomit on my ship” Corazón warned him as he hobbled out of the tavern, he could have sworn he heard the sounds of retching as the dragon left.

They continued drinking, Merilwen was explaining something to Dob about her ability to speak to animals, and Prudence was stirring her drink with her finger absentmindedly as she looked over old notes she had found in a book.

“Remind me to pick up some yellowcress from the ships before we leave” Merilwen asked the group

“What is that?”

“It’s something I need to practice health tonics, not sure exactly how it’s supposed to taste”

Corazón shuddered “I’m not drinking any of it” 

The tavern was not overcrowded, but the four of them were not the only people there, locals and adventurers from different walks of life were scattered about the different tables and sitting in booths. Though there were groups of people, the atmosphere was quiet, and calm, this atmosphere was destroyed a moment later when a loud explosion sounded from just outside the tavern.

“Did you just…?” Merilwen looked up from her notes at the others

“Probably just some rowdy townsfolk” Dob said with a shrug

Another explosion cracked through the evening, like a loud thunder during a storm, but the weather was clear… and next they heard the screaming.

They shot up from the booth and bolted for the door, Corazón tentatively reached a hand forward and pushed it open. the scene greeting them was one of disaster.

The sky was red, not the pretty colors of a sunset to indicate the end of another day, but the color of warning and of danger, at the horizon line there were strange fast moving clouds, Corazón had never seen anything like it, he looked to Prudence “This seems demony…. Have any clue what’s going on?”

Prudence grimaced “Yes, stereotype the demon, just because I’m a demon I must know _all_ the evil goings on in the kingdom”

Despite her response, she pushed past the others and stepped outside the tavern, the blood red clouds swirling dangerously above, she turned around after a moment to give the others a look “I’m getting some weird vibes out here”

“Prudence, come back in…” Dob said “You shouldn’t be out there”

“Oh come on, Dob, it’s just a bit weird… it’s probably nothing” Prudence responded, taking a few more steps forward and leaving her guild mates on edge as they waited for her to turn back.

All too quickly it happened, as if a flash of lightning had struck the ground in front of them and blinded them to what was happening, bony hands shot up from the ground all around Prudence - the fingers grasping for her cloak as she stood unaware, staring out at the strange horizon.

Corazón shouted for her, but the wind became too strong and she couldn’t hear her friends over it anymore, when the warlock became aware of the hands grasping for her she tried to fight them off, pushing and kicking out at them, she even tried eldritch magic bestowed upon her by her patron. 

But nothing helped, and the last thing Corazón and the others saw of Prudence was her being dragged underneath the earth, screaming as the skeletal hands marked her flesh.


	2. Wasteland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the four of them sat in the circle with their eyes closed, the crystal began to shake slightly and though it was unseen by them, the edges of it were glowing a strange blue, the blue was growing ever outward from the center of the circle until it hugged the tavern, a strange sight that stood out from the deep reds of the sky and the lighter red mist swaying through the air.

The shock hadn’t worn off from seeing Prudence dragged under the earth before the tavern started to shake.

“We need to get to the ship” Dob said

“Are you insane?‌ We’re just going to leave these poor people here to fend for themselves?” Merilwen said, turning to them with a worried expression

Corazón took one last look out at the horizon, and at the spot Prudence used to stand and ushered everyone away from the door to shut it, he paced for a moment before standing still.

“I have a spell, I think… but I don’t know if I can cast it alone” 

He looked around at the terrified groups of people huddled in corners or ducked under the tables, the tavern was still shaking and he was worried one of those hands would shoot up through the floorboards if they didn’t work fast.

He cleared some space in the center of the room, having Dob and Merilwen aid him in moving some of the tables, he sat down and removed his adventuring pack from his back, retrieving a small book in which he had written some spells down in.

“It’s a shield spell, but… I think it only works for a small area”

One of the timid looking people across the tavern took a tiny step forward “I… i happen to be a first year magic student… a wizard” his voice was shaking but he came forward “If we cast it together, draw from the same energy… maybe the spell will be more powerful”

Corazón looked at him and then looked at the space in front of him “I mean, it might be the best shot we have, sit down and take my hand” 

The mousy haired wizard sat down, hesitantly taking Corazón’s hand as the pirate flipped through the notes with his free hand for a minute before putting it aside “I don’t know if this will have any effect, but I hear that for some magic users they need a focus, like some sort of crystal or something to direct the energy to…” he looked at Merilwen and Dob “Do any of you have anything like that?”

Dob shook his head but the wood elf’s eyes widened “I… do but it’s back on the ship”

“I have something” the wizard said “And if they join hands with us, maybe it will improve the odds” he grabbed something from his pocket with a free hand and plopped it down onto the floor as Merilwen and Dob sat down in the free spaces on the floor, completing the circle as they locked hands with Corazón and the other magic user, the center of the circle completed by the strangely shaped crystal he had produced from his pocket.

Corazón instructed the others to all close their eyes as he focused on the spell, the idea was to strengthen the original spell to extend the reach of the shield, he had no idea if it was possible, and nothing he had written down led him to believe it was, but he shut his eyes and tried to breathe calmly, shutting out any other noise he was hearing, shutting out the screams of the towns people, and the all too recent memory of Prudence being dragged away. 

As the four of them sat in the circle with their eyes closed, the crystal began to shake slightly and though it was unseen by them, the edges of it were glowing a strange blue, the blue was growing ever outward from the center of the circle until it hugged the tavern, a strange sight that stood out from the deep reds of the sky and the lighter red mist swaying through the air.

“I- I think it worked” the terrified voice of the tavern keeper broke the reverie of the four of them, and they finally opened their eyes. Corazón looked around “I don’t really feel like it worked”‌

“We saw something blue shooting out from the crystal, some kind of… energy, I at least… I feel a lot safer”

Merilwen glanced at Corazón and Dob before getting up and heading to the door, she carefully opened it and looked around “It’s working…” she said “But, I‌ don’t know how long it will hold”

She shut the door “We need to head out of here, and fast…but…” she crossed over to the tavern keeper who was leaning against the bar, sweat dripping from his forehead and a fear in his eyes that wouldn’t soon vanish “If the shield drops, do you think you can get these people out of here?”‌

He swallowed hard and nodded “I’ll do what I can to protect them, but what if… what if one of those hands tries to grab us?”

“Just run as fast as you can, don’t let them latch on to you”‌

The man near sobbed “I don’t know if I can…”

Merilwen took a long pause before turning back to her companions “Dob, Corazón… I think I‌ need to stay here with-” she looked at the wizard “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your name”

“Aelle”

She nodded in understanding and helped the wizard up from the circle “If that shield breaks, and these people are alone, they might die… if just Aelle stays here, he may not be able to hold the shield on his own”

“But Merilwen, we need you” Dob said with a frown

“You need to make sure Egbert is alright, he was on his way to the ship wasn’t he?”‌ She shook her head “I’ll catch up with you once I‌ know everyone is safe here”

Corazón and Dob got up from the circle, they both grabbed their bags and Corazón walked to the door as the bard tried once more to convince Merilwen to come with them, she did not agree with his points and he dejectedly walked to join with his pirate friend, who opened the door slowly, terrified of what they would have to face out there. 


	3. Gone

Dob and Corazón gave one last glance at the tavern before moving cautiously forward through the debris that was still raining from the sky, Corazón had a horrifying thought that it could have been his ship, with Egbert on it.

He pushed the thought away and pressed on through the unsettling silence, he was certain that at any moment hands would shoot up from the ground to grab him and Dob, he could almost feel the bony fingers wrapping themselves around his ankles but again, he pushed the thought away, the only thing they needed to do was get to the ship and make sure Egbert was fine, and then they could find a way to rescue Prudence.

_If there’s anything left to rescue_

Corazón swore under his breath at his own morbid thought, Prudence was fine, Egbert was fine…. They had to be. _  
_

“We’re almost to the docks” Dob said, breaking the silence and then wincing at the sound of his voice, the two of them paused in fear, wondering if the sound would attract the monsters hands, after a moment passed nothing happened and they continued on with silent steps and hearts beating in their ears.

Before they got to the wooden planks of the docks, Dob suggested in a whisper that they take off their boots, to muffle the sound of their walking over the wood, Corazón agreed and they both removed their boots, setting them in the grass before the docks started, the ship was in sight even in the dark red air, Corazón could tell it was unharmed and he felt the tightness in his chest release some, if the ship was okay, Egbert was okay…

They made their way barefoot onto the ship and started looking around, Dob went to check Egbert’s quarters, Corazón went to check all the other ones and they met back on the top deck, Dob’s expression confirmed what Corazón had feared…. Egbert was gone.

“Do you think whatever it was that got Prudence…”

“I don’t know”

“How are we supposed to find-” Dob started but Corazón put a hand up to stop him

“I don’t know, Dob… I don’t know what those things are or where they took Prudence, I don’t know if there’s anything left of our friends _to_ find”

Dob responded with a gasp “How could you even say something like that? Of course we’re going to find them… we’re the Oxventure Guild! we’ve got luck in spades! Think of all the times we almost died but didn’t”

Corazón sat down on an upturned barrel that used to carry ale but now carried dirty sea-water courtesy of Egbert, he looked down at his bare feet and then at the bard, Dob was always able to see the positive side in anything… but Corazón sometimes felt like Dob, even with all the hardships he faced in his childhood, was still so child-like at heart.

“Maybe that’s it” he said “Maybe it’s finally run out… our luck, we’ve… we’ve overcome so many things that we maybe shouldn’t have overcome. Remember when Prudence and I‌ almost died?… Remember that evil doppelganger? Leliana?”

Dob didn’t respond, he simply crossed over to another empty barrel and pushed it closer to Corazón’s, he sat atop it and stared up ahead at the fast moving and terrifying clouds.

“I’ve never seen you so negative before”

“Dob, I‌ just watched our friend being pulled into the earth while screaming, I… I've never heard Prudence scream like that, I always saw her as this immovable object, nothing phased her because she could kill it before it did but that scream, that was real terror”

Dob’s face fell as he thought on Corazón’s words for a moment “I… it happened so fast I‌ guess maybe I didn’t think of it like that.”

The two of them sat there in the darkness for some time in silence not knowing what to do, not knowing where their friends were, and not knowing how to avoid the hands that wanted to take them underneath the earth.

“Should we go back?”

Corazón said nothing, but stood and started to walk back down onto the docks again, looking around as he did to make sure the coast was clear and it was safe to walk on, the pair of them decided to leave their boots there to lessen their footsteps. 

A quiet and unsettling trip back towards the tavern, it seemed as though it had gone on for ages, but Corazón spotted something in the corner of his eyes that even in the dark left him feeling like he had just been submerged in ice, he stopped and nudged Dob.

“What is it?” Dob whispered

Corazón pointed to something in the distance, Dob’s eyes followed his finger and then he saw it too, he shook his head fervently but kept staring at it and refusing to move forward.

Dob then does something Corazón couldn’t stop even if he knew it was coming, he started to run towards whatever it was in the darkness, his feet silently padding against the burnt grass as he moved quickly, Corazón rushed after him without a second thought and felt the hands grasping at him now, trying to pull him back, to pull him down….

He lost his balance and felt himself sinking like it was quicksand, but he managed to fight off the hands before they could pull him under, just in time for Dob to turn around to face him “Corazón, stop!”

Corazón could see Dob was shaking, he steadied himself and pushed past the bard despite the warning and saw it, _her_.

Prudence the Tiefling Warlock was immobile, her eyes closed and her body mangled with cuts and bruises, some of her hair was torn away from her scalp.

She was gone.


	4. Great Old One

It felt like a longer walk back to the tavern than the walk heading out, they had to leave Prudence’s body behind on the ground in the grass, Dob didn’t want to, Corazón didn’t want to, but they both agreed that they would retrieve it later.

First, they had to tell Merilwen.

She was where they left her in the tavern the previous night, she looked as though she hadn’t slept the entire time, some of the other patrons in the tavern were sleeping on the floor or in booths, the barkeep was sleeping atop his cleaned bar. Dob looked at Corazón.

They had no idea how to do this.

Corazón was the first to admit he lived a rather privileged life, it’s not as though he never felt bad or had sad things happen to him, but he was never put in a position where he had to tell someone else bad news, not like _this_. He crossed over wordlessly to an empty booth as Dob approached the wood elf, he tapped her gently on the shoulder as she was having a conversation with several of the awake patrons, she looked at him with a question on her face.

Corazón looked at the booth table and saw the etchings he had carved into it before they heard the explosion, he wished they were back there, he wished Egbert was complaining about feeling ill after drinking, he wished Prudence was still prattling on about Frisky and The‌ Darkness.

It hit him that the pets Prudence had acquired were left back at the Necropolis Manor, Prudence had said she didn’t always want to take them with her because things could get dangerous, how do you tell supernatural book pets that their owner is gone?

He watched Dob and Merilwen talking, he saw the realization in the wood elf’s eyes as she understood what had happened, even without Dob having to say it, he gently steered her over to the booth where the first thing she did was ask Corazón…

“Where is Egbert?”

Corazón didn’t know the answer to the question, and he didn’t know _how_ to answer the question… he shrugged, he knew as he was doing it that it was the wrong thing to do, that it came across a certain way, that Merilwen would see it a certain way, but it was all he could do.

“I don’t know” he said, the first words he spoke since seeing Prudence again “I know that’s not what you want to hear right now, but it’s all I’ve got”

They sat in silence for a while, what was there left to say? Corazón kept having thoughts that ran through his head that he knew not to say out loud, but there were questions, what would they do with the body? Prudence didn’t have any fami-

He cut his own thoughts off, that wasn’t true that Prudence had no family, she had them, as she had since the day she met the adventurers in the market square that day, and as she had since she met Egbert in the tavern so long ago.

Corazón looked around the tavern, it looked no different than it had last night, usually light crept into the windows from the sun, but when he and Dob had awoken that morning; the sky was still red and dark, casting a gloom over the tavern and over the town, it felt like eternal night.

He got up from the table and walked over to the staircase, it led to the upstairs rooms where people could sleep if they had the coin, now he doubted coin mattered that much to anyone, Dob and Merilwen didn’t question his choice to leave, they just let him leave.

He crept up the stairs slowly, feeling the old wood beneath his bare feet as he came upon the landing, it was a small and dark hallway with just one window at the end that was covered in dust, Corazón assumed that this window hadn’t been opened in years. He crossed to the last room and opened the door, this is where Prudence had put her stuff as she was planning on sleeping there for the night or even a couple nights after their last adventure.

Corazón shut the door, the sound of it startling him a little bit in the silence and he felt a lump in the back of his throat that felt like it was constricting his breathing, he sat on Prudence’s bed, or the bed that would have been hers had she slept there.

She had left some of her bags there, not wanting them to stay on the ship because she felt like they would get water-logged if there was a bad storm, and it was raining as they came into port, Corazón couldn’t blame her.

He bent down and reached into the bag, grabbing a leather bound heavy book that he felt dark energy emanating off of before even opening it, it was a book on warlock magic and patrons. He flipped through the pages until he found one on Prudence’s patron, Cthulhu.

_The Warlock is able to contact their patron through the otherworldly bond they have formed with them, it is like a contract of sorts, any one else who tries to speak to a patron without this bond is likely to go mad._

His eyes scanned through the pages and pages of words that he mostly didn’t understand until he found something he was looking for, something that he could use…

_Some are able to use a conduit to reach a patron, such as in the event where they must contact them on someone else’s behalf, be prepared for them to not wish to deal with the petty worries of mortals who they aren’t directly linked with_

_Conduits can be any charmed object specific to the person who held the patronship, though they must have sentimental value to the person in question._

He shut the book and replaced it in Prudence’s bag, riffling through it for something else, what did Prudence have that was sentimental to her? He didn’t think that‌ Frisky and The‌ Darkness counted, since they were pets that she got recently, it had to be something else…

He looked over at the table, one of Prudence’s stiletto knives was sitting there and he wondered if that counted for anything, she had them as long as he knew her and probably longer, maybe these were even the knives that she killed the old hermit Cyrus with, he took the blade in his hand and studied it for a moment.

It was going to have to work for what he needed, he cleared a space on the floor and set the knife in the center, echoing the crystal the wizard downstairs had set in the center of their circle to cast a shielding spell. He had no idea how to contact Cthulhu, usually it was Cthulhu sending vague messages to Prudence through dreams or obvious in the mad ramblings of a random person they passed by on the street.

He wondered if he would go mad like the book said, he understood very little of patronship and even less about Cthulhu, but this was the only thing that he could think possibly might work…

He gripped the knife tightly, he was unsure of himself as he closed his eyes to better focus, maybe if he thought about the old god, it would help… maybe if he…

He felt an icy pull, as if tendrils were reaching out of the floor of the inn to strangle him, he heard strange ethereal noises around him and desperately wanted to open his eyes; but each time he tried he was stopped, he felt his body trembling in the cold room that seemed to close in on him, he felt trapped….

Water, he felt water but where was it coming from?‌ He opened his mouth to scream but all that came out was water, he felt like he was floating now… above the sky but deep in the water at the same time. His eyes finally opened and he was standing on solid ground, on what seemed to be a beach surrounded by chunks of broken rocks and debris. It was dark and cold, he could hear water sloshing around from a lake nearby and the deafening sound of waterfalls all around him.

The ground beneath him started to shake uncontrollably, it felt like the world was splitting apart and the shaking wasn’t stopping, the sound of the rumble drowned out any other sound and he had momentarily forgotten what it was like to hear anything else, this went on for several minutes as something rose from the water.

An impossibly large monster, a disturbing figure with distorted features towered over him as it emerged completely from the water, dwarfing him ten times over, it opened it’s eyes and they glowed a deep red but not like the red Corazón remembered the color of the sky outside the tavern being.

Cthulhu spoke, but it was not in a language Corazón could understand. His voice wasn’t there, it was in Corazón’s own head and came in strange unbearable waves that felt like his head was being torn away from his body, this was unlike any headache he had ever had in his life, this was his life force being torn apart by vibrations.

The Eldritch horror must have caught on to the fact that the tiny human could not comprehend him, and spoke in broken whispers of voices that he did not own, voices that were men and women and others who had long passed or who had never existed at all.

These voices rushed through Corazón’s head like the wind in a bad storm, he felt his skin crawl with the voices, with the memories and names of all the people who were speaking and who had ever spoke with the monstrosity that stood in front of him.

All the voices converged to say the same simple word.

_SPEAK._

Corazón had long lost his ability to speak and he wordlessly motioned with his hands, it was an automatic reaction, something his body was doing without the help of his mind and without the help of all the systems in his brain… He was mesmerized and entranced, he was horrified and traumatized…. _  
_

“Bring her back”

The wizard did not know if the old one heard him or even understood him and so he waited, staring up at the monster for many seconds, many minutes until the many voices rushed through Corazón’s head once more to form something akin to human language.

_YOU HAVE COME HERE TO ASK A FAVOR OF ME, YOU UNDERSTAND VERY CLEARLY THAT THERE IS A PRICE TO BE PAID?_

“My life?” Corazón asked, his voice quiet but still heard by the monster

_YOUR SANITY, FOR ANY MORTAL TO COME SEE MY TRUE FORM IS A MADNESS INCOMPARABLE. YOU HAVE RISKED THIS._

“It doesn’t matter!” he shouted “Bring back my friends, bring back Prudence! Bring back Egbert!”

_THE DRAGON DOES NOT KNOW THE TASTE OF DEATH, THE WARLOCK…. I CAN NOT SEE._

All other sounds in the enclosed area stopped as time stopped, the water no longer flowed into the lake with angry sounds, the voices were no longer swimming through the air, the sounds of sloshing had disappeared and Cthulhu stared right at Corazón, and Corazón made the foolish mistake of staring back.

And then he screamed, an endless scream that echoed throughout worlds, realities and time, a scream that belonged to many people, a scream that never stopped.


	5. Echo

_Drip_

The sound echoed in the empty room, all he could hear was loud and unbearable sounds that seemed to dance with each other. He swayed with them.

They were singing to him.

_Drip_

He started laughing softly at first, but then it was louder and louder as he hoped he could drown out the singing.

He kept swaying with the voices and their strange melody.

***************

Dob sat with Merilwen in silence while the rest of the tavern huddled in their safe spots, it was as if they were waiting for something bad to happen, Dob understood this of course… He was just as scared as any of them.

He felt sick when he remembered Prudence’s body, the way that her red skin had turned a pale shade of pink upon her death, the memories rushed back to the forefront of his mind when he heard laughter from upstairs.

He shot Merilwen a glance and they both quickly rose from the table and bolted up the stairs, upon getting to the landing the creepy laughter echoed in the long hallway. Dob felt chills go through his body like a cold wind on a warm night

The sound was coming from all around them, they opened various doors until it hit him, Corazón’s laughter was coming from the last room, the room Prudence was going to sleep in the night she was taken…. He rushed to the end of the hallway and pushed open the door.

It was dark, only one candle was lit and it smelled of incense and burnt salt in the room, he could barely see anything except Corazón’s form sitting in the middle of the floor. Merilwen stepped forward and knelt beside the pirate, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched.

“Hey buddy” she said “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head fast enough to make Dob dizzy just by watching him. He felt uneasy in his stomach and he stood beside Merilwen “I‌ think there’s something wrong with him, he looks like..”

“He looks like he’s been face to face with something no mortal is supposed to see” Merilwen said, grabbing one of Prudence’s books from the bed and pointing at the passage Corazón had left it on “He was trying to speak to Cthulhu about Prudence” the wood elf shook her head and turned back to Corazón

“How could you be so foolish?‌ After all the things we’ve done, you went straight to an old god? You read that most mortals go mad and you _still_ thought this was a good idea?”

“Merilwen, I‌ understand we’re under a stressful situation but yelling at someone who has literally lost his mind is probably counter productive at this point.”

Corazón merely sat there staring at his hands and tapping on his knuckles, he stopped suddenly to grab something from the bag sat beside him, it was a quill pen and a small ink jar that Prudence took everywhere with her in case she needed to write down magic notes, he also retrieved a notebook.

Dob and Merilwen peered over his shoulder at what he was writing on the paper, but it was all strange and unintelligible symbols. “It’s infernal” Merilwen shrugged.

Dob approached Corazón and knelt down to grab the quill pen from him, Corazón in retaliation grabbed the knife that had been sitting in the middle of the floor and pointed it at the bard.

“No!” Merilwen shouted “No we’re… we’re not trying to hurt you, we.. we want to know what you saw”

He shook his head and huddled against the paper, scribbling frantically for a few minutes, when he stopped he lifted up the paper for Merilwen to take but she frowned “I‌ can’t read infernal”

“Neither can I” Dob said

Corazón grasped the knife in his hand once more, rising from his spot on the floor and brandishing it at Dob and Merilwen, it was hard to see in the low light, but Corazón’s eyes were entirely white with nothing else… no iris, nothing, and this chilled Dob to the bone. 

“Calm down!” Dob shouted eagerly but the magic didn’t seem to work as the anger was still in Corazón’s face and he was still approaching.

“Merilwen, please do something… it didn’t work”

The room seemed to smell of acrid plants for a moment as Merilwen called forth vines that started snaking their way across the floor and around Corazón’s feet, climbing up his body and effectively restraining him, causing him to drop the knife.

“It’s not going to last long” Merilwen said, hastily flipping through the pages of Prudence’s book “Check this book if there’s anything about this… Cthulhu madness, and I’ll tie him up”

“Tie him up!?” Dob gasped

“Well what else are we supposed to do?‌ He’s going to try to kill us if we leave him be this way.” She left the room for a moment, returning with a bit of rope that she cut into sections with her own rough dagger that she had strapped to the inside of her boot, she tightly tied these around the pirate who was currently immobile from the vines but would soon be able to break free as Dob tried his hardest to speed read the sections of Prudence’s books, she had made little notes in the margins sarcastically criticising some of the information and it made him wince with sorrow.

He shook it off, he would have time for sorrow later… right now it was important to find any information they could to get Corazón back.

“Find anything?”

“No I…. I can’t find anything”

“Damn it” Merilwen said as she tightened the rope around Corazón’s wrists and arms, just in time for the spell effect to wear off and the vines to completely disappear, Corazón tried to kick out at the wood elf but ended up becoming unbalanced and falling to his arse with a loud thud.

“Are you alright?” Merilwen asked out of habit, Corazón wouldn’t answer… He stared at the floor for a moment before looking directly at her, she recoiled in horror and Dob caught her before she flung herself into a wall. She burried her head in his arms and started sobbing.

“His eyes…”

“I know, I saw them…”

“What did Cthulhu _do_ to him?”

“I don’t know” Dob said softly, trying to stay composed while looking at his lost friend, while the memory of Prudence still burned in his mind and while they still had no idea where Egbert had gone.


	6. Exhume

He remembered shadow figures watching him sleep, surrounding the bed and sometimes coming close enough to touch him but they never crossed the threshold. He couldn’t sleep, he would dream.

They sang for him still, one of the had a voice he recognized.

The strangers had left him with one wrist tied to the underside of the bed, his other hand was tied to his ankle and his ankle was tied to a metal piece wedged into the floor.

The strangers did not sing for him, they wept for him but he did not know why.

**************

Dob rubbed at his face and sat up, it was morning once more though he struggled to remember a night time, the sky had been blood red for two days and he was starting to lose the sense of what was real, how could he tell the difference between day and night now?

He fell asleep trying to write a letter which currently read out

_Dear Mr Milquetoast, it is with sorrow and regret that I‌ write this._

_Your son, Percival, has had his mind torn to shreds by an old ancient god and he is no longer who you remember him, he is aggressive, angry and very quiet._

_He may try to kill me and everyone he’s ever known, just a heads up_

_Dob the Bard_

Dob sighed, how do you tell someone’s parent that their son is now a husk of a human after a horrific interaction with an old god? He was sure there was a book on it, but it was likely back on the ship.

Merilwen and him discussed a plan of action, they needed to try to find someone who was able to speak or at least read infernal and translate Corazón’s page of writings, plus he had taken up carving it into the wooden planks on the floor before Merilwen adjusted the ropes so he could no longer hold the pen.

But trying to leave was dangerous and he wasn’t sure if it was safe out there… Merilwen put the wizard they had met earlier on in charge of watching over the patrons of the tavern and they put the tavern keeper in charge of making sure Corazón didn’t escape his binds.

“If you need help with that or if he tries to attack you, Aelle is going to be staying here to watch over the place”

The tavern-keeper let out a small sigh of relief but then fidgeted a moment “Did you not say the man upstairs was also a wizard?”

Merilwen nodded “But don’t be too afraid, he doesn’t seem to remember he’s got magic.. and even though he won’t speak, he can hear everything, so try not to remind him that he has magic.”

“Right, no provoking the memory of the wizard”

“Don’t call him a wizard if you don’t want him to remember he’s got magic”

“Right, yes right”

Dob was waiting by the door for Merilwen, once outside of the place Dob would cast a protection spell on them both until they got to the ship, and then they would set sail for the next nearest island, they had to find someone to help them.

And in the process they might find out what happened to the island in question.

It was a risky move to leave, Dob and Merilwen had discussed it at length the previous night, they desperately needed to figure out what was causing the hands rising from the ground, but if it was an enemy they needed to face… They wouldn’t be able to defeat it with just the two of them and Aelle, they needed Egbert and Corazón.

They carefully moved out of the tavern and Dob cast the protection around them, it wasn’t normally a spell he was able to cast, but the wizard helped him out by handing him a crystal to help guide energies, and a couple of spell scrolls that may come in handy later down the line, though he had to admit he didn’t know how to use spell scrolls.

The trip to the ship was easy, and Dob gently steered Merilwen away from the spot where Prudence still lay, they would put her to rest when they got back, he promised Merilwen this.

“I feel bad” he said

“Leaving?”

Dob nodded “We should… figure out the creepy bony hand thing here before leaving”

“We may not be able to do that without help in the first place, we have to find someone outside this place who is able to help us, a lot of people seemed to have been taken or… killed by whatever those things are when they popped out of the ground… We need magic users, we need to find Egbert, we need…” Merilwen sighed heavily

“We need help”

Dob looked up to the reddened sky, he knew it was morning but it felt like night time to him. He and Merilwen spent time undoing the ship’s ropes and after about ten minutes, set sail for one of the nearby islands. If anything could help… maybe this trip would.

*************

The door opened and two strangers came into the room but he knew they were not the same strangers as before.

“We’re here to keep watch” one voice said

_SHE DOES NOT KNOW THIS ONE_

It was the voices again, sometimes they sang horrifying music that he danced to even if it made him feel sad, but sometimes the voices spoke for The Great One to impart a message, this was rare, but this message meant something.

He felt the other strangers needed to know this, but how to speak to such figures? He was so light and they were so heavy, he could not carry the secrets to them no matter the strength of the floor.

“Your name is Corazón, right?” the stranger spoke “Dob and Merilwen, your friends, they are trying to get help”

Was the stranger expecting something? Corazón started laughing slightly, a chuckle at first but the scene was so inexplicably funny to him, he forgot why he was laughing but voices reminded him.

And then the music started again but it sounded horrible, it was no longer joyous and ethereal, it was the screams of the dead and the dying, it was the burning of villages across the world, it was the skin being flayed off of his own back. His laughter became strained as he was overwhelmed with tears that flowed down his cheeks.

The man started to come forward but he was stopped by the other stranger “Be careful, he could hurt you”

“He’s bound, and he doesn’t know about the magic”

Magic, the magic… the word started repeating in his head over and over again… what did it mean? They were talking about him, the magic..

The magic that he knew, the magic that was now imperfect and broken like his mind, he felt like he was trying to untie spider silk as he desperately clawed at the floor with his fingernails, not even noticing that his fingers were bleeding as he did so.

As the man came closer, a dark ethereal hand shot forward and pushed the two strangers to the floor, one by one they stood “Damn it!” one of them said ‘He _heard_ you!“

“Unbind me” Corazón said to the strangers, he was grasping for the little bit of sanity that he had left at the back of his mind, it was being lost again quickly, stolen from him by the large Old God who was now speaking into his mind.

_SACRIFICE_

Corazón now knew what he was to do, he and the Great Old One had made a pact in a dark place, Corazón remembered vaguely standing and staring at the old god, he remembered approaching him came with a risk, but he traded his sanity for what he was about to do. 

His binds came undone and his hands were now free to summon a great burst of dark magic energy, seeping with malice as it destroyed the two strangers to nothing but dust, it burned off the door to the room.

He used the edge of the table to help himself stand up for the first time in quite a while, he looked down at his work and bent over to retrieve a crystal necklace from the one stranger, he put it around his own neck and stepped out of the small room.

It was a gift.


	7. Attempts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short one this time because I don't want to split sections that much.

Dob and Merilwen had been sailing for a couple of hours, he wasn’t as good at sailing as Corazón but he did learn a few things in the last two years of hanging around the pirate. Merilwen was sitting on a barrel and staring out at the stars.

She sighed.

“I wrote a couple letters” Dob said to break the silence

“To who?”

“Suzette, Cora’s dad”

She turned to look at him “Are you stupid?”

“Possibly, but why this time?”

The water was gentle tonight and it was smooth sailing, like he was going over ice without the uncontrollable sliding or speed, so; nothing like that at all… But it was calm, and after the last couple of days calm was exactly what he and Merilwen needed, out this far the red sky broke and the night sky was clear, covered in stars…

“You wrote Lord Milquetoast about how his son has been cthulhu’d?”

“I thought someone should tell him, I mean… What if we have to-”

“What exactly?‌ Put him down?” Merilwen asked incredulously

“He tried to kill us Merilwen, what if we can’t fix what’s wrong with him.. We can’t just keep him in a cage for the rest of time, we have to figure something out”

“We’ll figure something _else_ out, there is no way in all of Geth that you’re going to ask me to kill Corazón, not going to happen” She crossed her arms “Even if we can’t find anything else to fix this or reverse it, I‌ won’t do it.”

“Lets just… not think about it then and focus on getting to where we need to go.”

“Where is that?”

“Anywhere, I‌ guess.. It’s clear now that the island we were on was the only one affected by whatever is happening, some kind of curse, I’d bet, but I don’t know a lot about curses.”

“We’ll find someone who does, we’ll make this okay again”‌ Merilwen said, more to herself than to Dob. He continued steering the ship and looking out at the horizon line, it was dark and the air was starting to get cold.

How much longer would they have to be sailing?

*****************

He walked down the steps with no thoughts in his head except the dust of the two men laying on the floor upstairs, when he came upon the landing he saw a bunch of terrified people who must have heard what happened.

“Where is that wizard?” one woman asked

Corazón did not answer, he simply kept walking towards the door, his bare feet tingling and stiff as he hadn’t been using them for a couple of days, he turned the knob on the door and the woman spoke again 

“You’re not going out, are you?”

“It’s dangerous out there, isn’t it?” a man chimed in

He paused opening the door and gave this consideration, he knew he was safe of course because why would he not be?‌ He was under a pact protection, he knew that Cthulhu would see him through to whatever goal he was going to make

“It’s dangerous in here” he said, barely above a whisper and turning to the group who finally noticed that his eyes had become strange, devoid of any color and just a pure solid white… The woman took a step back “He’s… he’s become a demon or something”

Someone else shook their head “Demons got horns you idiot”

Corazón turned back to the door and opened it, shutting it hard enough to rattle the protective crystal in the center of the floor, greatly weakening the shield around the building and leaving it open for the strange hands to feel around the edges of it, even for some of them to climb up to the roof and to shoot through the floor of the building.

Corazón was untouched by the disgusting hands as he walked through the red air, the low rumble of thunder that had been constant was still threatening the skies, and the hands rose up around him. He was searching for something, seeking out something…. a ship, his ship. 

But it was gone from the place he remembered it being, another one was sitting in it’s place, a smaller boat that Corazón recognized as being a skiff, it was rowed from a larger boat and there were two people sitting in it.


	8. Aberration

He glared at the two strangers as they redid the binds, tighter this time and the girl spoke to the older man

“What if he gets out again?”

The man thought on this for a moment and then took off his glasses, placing them gently in the pocket of his coat and shrugged, Corazón looked around the room, the piles of dust from the two men that were trying to stop him earlier were scattered now because of all the footsteps.

“We need to have some sort of plan” the girl spoke again “I mean, I’m not a fighter and I don’t think an old man like you could take him”

“I’m sorry, are we talking about a scenario that requires me to fight him?”

“Not to be nosy, but I heard some rumors about your relationship with him, and I wouldn’t put it past you to _want_ to fight him, but that’s none of my business”

Corazón turned to the man, he looked at him for a minute without stopping to blink, his voice sounded familiar but.. his face, Corazón could almost recall distorted memories but the voices of the many who had fallen mad to Cthulhu were drowning out any other thought in his mind.

The girl finished tying his other wrist and groaned “I can’t believe I came all this way and he’s nowhere to be found”

“Who?”

“My brother, Dob.”

“Ah, yes I have met him before… He is quite the uh… I don’t rightly know how to say that, so I shall quiet myself”

She chuckled and nodded “No, you can say it. I know, my brother’s a little weird. Quite the performer though, I was quite worried about the company he kept before, and I guess now I’m a little more worried as it seems one of them is entirely insane”

“He is not insane, he is simply unwell.”

The two of them stopped talking, the girl sat by him and the man sat on the bed occasionally looking at his shoes as if there was something interesting about them.

“I’m Suzette, by the way. I don’t remember if I told you my name”

“You did not”

“I’m sorry then, I guess I was in a hurry after getting that letter”

“You are not the only one”

“So” Suzette shrugged “What’s it like being rich?”

“It’s quite relaxing, though _some_ people act like it’s the largest burden they will ever face in their lives, and then go and become pirates”

Corazón heard muffled talking from the floor below, when the man and the girl had found him at the harbour trying to escape, they dragged him back to the tavern which had been assaulted by several hands, the crystal amplifying protective magic was askew and was simply replaced by Suzette before the two restrained him once more

“I can see you have some unresolved issues there, buddy” Suzette then turned her attention to Corazón “Do you… remember anything?”

“Voices”

“Dob’s letter just told me you were uh… overwhelmed with the eyes of the deep, I don’t know what that’s even supposed to mean but I just thought y’know, it’s Dob…”

“Great Old One… made me a deal”

“He made a deal with a demon?” the man chimed in, Suzette put her finger out to silence him for a second while she listened to Corazón’s words.

“What deal? Did this… demon say anything about… I don’t know, returning your mind to you?”

“It… I’m lost… All I can hear is their screaming and I don’t want to hear it anymore… tiny little rats chewing off my ears and then when I look at the sky it’s covered in bugs and it doesn’t stop.”

Suzette made a face and gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder “I don’t know anything about demons or cult stuff… is there anything we can do to help you?”

_THEY DO NOT SEEK THE SAME THINGS, IF YOU LISTEN TO THEM YOU WILL BE BREAKING OUR DEAL. POWER, FOR SANITY. HELP, FOR SACRIFICE._

The many voices of the damned converged to speak the words of The Great Old One, he started to chuckle softly and then with all of his strength aided by Cthulhu, he broke his wrists free of the ropes and grabbed Suzette’s wrist, she gasped and tried to pull away.

“Help!” she shouted, the man swift but steadily grabbed Corazón’s other arm and met his eyes… Corazón was distracted by the look on the man’s face, he was mildly disturbed at the sight of Corazón’s eyes lacking the color human eyes should have, lacking the irises human eyes should have, he let go of Suzette.

“Don’t touch her” the man said, it wasn’t demanding or angry but a calm suggestion “She is not your enemy”

Corazón looked away from him at the girl once more, her skin was green and the color felt familiar to him, he had seen it before, did he know her? 

“Percival” the man’s voice said

One word started to break through the angry voices, the scared screaming, the endless ramblings about the Great One, it wasn’t that he had forgotten his life, it was that he couldn’t see it anymore, he was no longer allowed to access the memories of what he was because nothing was louder than the sounds of screaming.

His mind felt like it shattered in the struggle between remembering the things he wasn’t able to see, the screaming insanity of those who looked Cthulhu in the eyes, and the voice of his father in his ear.

“I can’t see who I am” Corazón said, his voice shaking… he was so uncertain and he felt dizzy, all the shouting was giving him a headache and he couldn’t make sense of the feelings he was having.

He started to cry, softly at first but then he broke into sobs and put his arms around his father “I can’t stop the voices” he choked on his own tears, he was struggling to get words out.

“I’ll fix this for you, Percy” his father whispered to him so low that Suzette did not hear, it was a secret between father and son.


	9. Strangers

The waves crashing around the ship made Dob feel rather sick, he tried to shake off the feeling. He wasn’t likely to get seasick at any other time, but he was wondering if it wasn’t just the nerves, the anxiety of wondering what happened to Egbert or what they would do about Corazón.

“Do you think Corazón is…?” he asked, turning the ship away from a wave that threatened to splash over the deck; Merilwen made a noise but did not answer.

“Well I think he’s fine” Dob continued “I think that we’ll find Egbert, we’ll find someone to help us, we’ll fix Corazón and we’ll bring Prudence back”

“Dob..”

Water started to fall gently from the sky as they continued their journey, at one point Merilwen went underneath the deck to the quarters area and Dob felt more isolated than he had for a long time. He started thinking about the times he spent alone in the cabin that he and his sister used to live in together.

After she had disappeared when he was young, he had to take care of himself and hunt for himself, but he never felt alone in that cabin, he always felt deep within himself that he would find her no matter how long it took.

And he was right, he did find her; he hoped against hope that she received his letter, he had it sent by bird since the entirety of the village they were currently staying it was both on fire and had hands shooting up from the ground. His letter included instructions for Suzette to head towards Abelforth and find Lord Milquetoast.

Dob had no idea what would happen, but he thought that it was important that both his only family, and Corazón’s only living family know what was going on.

The rain gently fell against his hair and rolled into his eyes, making it difficult to steer, he took his hands off the wheel for a moment to rub his eyes and then he saw it, another stretch of land.

“Merilwen! It’s another island!” he shouted as he began to pull up to the island, roughly the same length as the one they were staying on, he could see buildings, townsfolk, he put the anchor down as they came up to the harbour and Merilwen came up to join him.

“It looks like this is a rather bustling place” she noted

“I think anything is bustling when our comparison is an island full of death and hands”

“Fair”

“So, you think we should check this out?”

Merilwen looked out over the ship and into the small harbour, she sighed and looked back at Dob “We don’t have much of a choice, lets just hope the locals are friendly”

“Lets hope the locals have food”

“How can you even think of eating at a time like this?” Merilwen asked incredulously

“I’m hungry!”

*************************

Corazón sat there emotionless with his hands restrained and Suzette giving him a suspicious look, he tried to consider for a moment where he knew her from but his mind felt lost, like going through the woods.

The other person, the man, he sat on the bed with a book in his hands, it was a familiar book with runes inscribed into it.

“What are you doing?” he asked

Suzette looked away from him and at the older gentleman “What is that you’re reading?”

“It’s a book I found kicked under the bed, it’s about warlocks and their patrons, it looks like this is what Percival read before whatever happened to him”

Suzette pushed herself up and crossed to the bed to snatch the book out of the man’s hands “Is there anything in here about someone being driven insane by something? Dob… didn’t give me a lot of information, just a lot of riddles.” she shook her head and flipped through the worn pages of Prudence’s book

Corazón remembered Suzette, she was the girl that they met in the woods over a year ago now… Dob’s sister, Dob was of course his friend. 

Corazón wanted to hang onto these thoughts, because they weren’t lost, they were overwhelmed by the noises of the ones lost to Cthulhu’s mad gaze, he felt his mind tightly grip onto the names of his friends and he closed his eyes. 

When he opened his eyes the room was slowly filling up with water, it was coming down from the ceiling like a bad storm had caused a leak, he heard the sounds of thunder crashing as he felt his body being lifted into the air, long and dark tentacles slipped themselves around him into a grip and pulled him from one side to another and then finally pulled him close to the monsters eyes, the eyes he had looked into.

_YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE THIS WAY, I SENSE_

_“_ I never… I never asked for…”

_YOU CAME INTO MY DOMAIN, YOU SEARCHED ME OUT. YOU KNEW THE RISKS._

Corazón felt this sickness rising up in his stomach as the beast ‘spoke’ to him directly, it was a thudding in his head and a booming in his heart as every inch of him was covered in chills, he couldn’t stop shaking. _  
_

“I want to be me” he said simply “Please let me be me again”

 _IF YOU ARE YOU, YOU GIVE UP THE CHOICE, THE WARLOCK AND THE DRAGON WILL BE LOST TO YOU FOREVER IF YOU ARE YOU_.

“No…” Corazón stammered “No you can’t do this!”

He started struggling against the tentacle but nothing would budge, Cthulhu had a tight grip on him and he could crush him if he wanted to, but it seemed like he didn’t want to do that as he gently set him down instead. Corazón fell to his knees on the wet stone once more.

“I will fight this” he said softly, barely above a whisper

_IF YOU ARE YOU, YOU WILL LOSE THEM, ONLY IN SERVITUDE TO ME CAN YOU BE FREE._

He opened his eyes and he was once more in the small tavern bedroom with two people he struggled to remember, the walls were no longer covered in dark murky water and he wasn’t struggling to breathe through the smell of salt.

Corazón felt a surge of magic through his veins, he knew that it was his new patron giving him a gift, and remembered what the last gift felt like. He looked up at Suzette and the man “Please, you hear it… you hear it, don’t you?” he asked 

Suzette tossed the book back to the man and looked at the pirate “Hear what?”

“You have to run, you have to run”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are _hands_ everywhere trying to grab people that walk outside”

The man set the book down gently on the bed after fumbling with it for a moment and knelt beside Corazón, he put his hand on his shoulder “What’s wrong?”

“He’s.. giving a gift… the last gift was death, you have to leave”

The man simply shook his head “I will not leave my son”

Corazón smelled the overwhelming salt water smell and closed his eyes tightly “I can’t stop, he wants me to hurt”

The man turned to the orc “Head downstairs, try to find out if anyone has swords, they may be able to be used to cut down the hands, you need to get them out of here, get them to the ship”

“But how? We have the ship ages away… the skiff doesn’t hold that many people” Suzette shrugged “I… I mean I suppose if we move in shifts”

“Do it as fast as you can, I’ll watch over my son”

“But…”

“Suzette” The man said sternly “Please, he cannot control what is happening to him, the less people that get hurt, the better”

“But what about you?”

“That is a risk I am willing to take, he is my son, and I will not leave him.”

Suzette started to protest once more but decided better of it, she shot Corazón one last look before heading out the door with uncertainty in her eyes.

“The magic will break the ropes” Corazón warned the man “You should leave…. I can hear him, he’s… he’s angry”

The man shook his head and untied his son’s wrist, he took his hand in his own “I will not leave you”

“But what if I hurt you?” Corazón asked, his voice filled with helplessness and fear as the thunder started up again outside once more, he knew what was next, and he couldn’t stop it.

“Father… please”

The tavern started to shake and Corazón could hear Suzette from downstairs ordering everyone to stay calm, he heard shouting and screaming as the hands started to shoot up out the windows and their bony fingers moved in such an unsettling way as what was once water, but now became blood rained down from the sky.

Corazón felt a chill in the room and then he heard the whispers, he knew what he had to do next.

A strange skeletal hand projected away from him, ethereal, almost beautiful in a way as it made it’s way towards the other man, his father.. It latched onto him and knocked him over onto the floor, almost stealing the breath from him entirely, he choked for a moment and tried to grab at whatever was harming him, but there was nothing there for him to grab onto.

Corazón’s binds simply slid away and he stood, overlooking the struggling man and not feeling anything. It was hard to feel anything for a man he didn’t know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spell that knocks Lord Milquetoast down is called Chill Touch which is pretty horrifying. And before you say "But Corazon doesn't know that spell", Yes, he doesn't, but his magic is bad assed up since Cthulhu is "helping"


	10. så att säga

With the ship safely anchored in the harbour, Dob and Merilwen stepped off onto the docks. They looked around to see what the small village was like, it didn’t seem like there were any supernatural goings-on but Dob felt paranoid anyway.

He concentrated for a minute and used a trick that Prudence taught him, it was a way to sense around for magic that might be permeating the area, he hadn’t had a lot to practice it on, so he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it, but he didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

The sun was hidden behind normal clouds, not the demonic red clouds that scattered over the island a ways back, but somehow Dob felt more uneasy being in a place that was so _normal_. He was worried about Corazón and he felt a queasiness in his stomach that could have been worry, but also could have been hunger.

It had been quite some time since any of them have had a meal, he looked at Merilwen “Don’t get mad, but I’m hungry…”

“We’re not here to eat, Dob”

“But we haven’t eaten in days, I feel weak..”

Merilwen thought about it for a moment and then clutched at her own stomach “You know, you’re right… We haven’t eaten, we should at least check the tavern to see if they have anything to eat”

So the two of them approached the local tavern, which wasn’t too crowded inside save a couple of people sitting in a booth against the wall, talking in low whispers about something Dob’s stomach couldn’t care less about, he approached the tavern owner who was behind the bar, a weary looking elf man with scars on his face and a crease in his brow.

“Do you have food? I really only eat vegetables, so anything with that is great…”

The man looked confused and stopped cleaning the bar in front of him, looking from Dob to Merilwen, his eyes lit up as he saw that she was an elf, and automatically started speaking to her in elvish, she responded with a light chuckle and a series of words Dob couldn’t understand.

The man nodded to Merilwen’s words and ushered them to sit at the bar, Merilwen felt uncomfortable and turned to Dob “He wants us to sit at the bar” she turned back to the man and spoke a few phrases in elvish, he looked disappointed and left, only to return from the back moments later with two plates of delicious looking food.

Dob and her went to search for a table away from other people’s ears and eyes, Dob was so hungry that he knew he could eat the entire meal in less than a minute, so he tried to pace himself and luckily enough the tavern owner came to the table with several glasses of ale, juice and water.

He left without saying anything and Merilwen took a small sip of water before turning her attention to her food, she took a bite of what looked like a breakfast roll, and Dob nibbled on some steamed carrots smothered in what he assumed was some kind of buttered sauce.

“Do you think Corazón is alright?” he asked through a mouthful of food

“I hope so” Merilwen said “I’m… scared, what if we can’t find anyone to help us?”

“We have to know where to look” Dob said, taking a sip of juice and then taking a sip of water “There has to be some kind of local person or… repository that can help us”

“Excuse me” a timid elf girl came towards the table “I was eavesdropping while my father’s in the back working on someone’s order… I can’t help but wonder what you’re talking about”

Dob eyed Merilwen and she nodded, he eyed a chair and the elf dragged one over to them to sit down, she waited patiently for Dob to finish chewing before asking again “What’s wrong?”

“We… we’re dealing with something really weird, and I don’t want to get into it too much, but there’s some kind of curse on an island not far from here and hands keep coming up out of the ground and my friend was killed by these hands and my other friend is missing and he’s a dragon and my other other friend is insane and that probably has very little to do with the hands and I think it has more to do with Cthulhu than anything else but we left him alone and I’m not sure if that wizard is strong enough to defend the tavern over there if Corazón goes ballistic”

The elf sat there in silence for quite some time while Dob recovered his breath and took a couple more bites of his food, Merilwen sheepishly apologized “I’m sorry, we’ve been through a lot the last couple of days…”

“Did you say your friends gone insane?”

Dob nodded “Pretty sure he has, we don’t know why exactly, but he had a book of warlock patrons.. One of our friends was a warlock, she was a patronee of Cthulhu and… what I’m thinking is that our friend, Corazón, that he tried to convince Cthulhu to bring her back but now he’s insane”

“I’m actually a scholar of Warlock Studies” she said “I didn’t introduce myself, I’m Zee”

“I’m Merilwen, and this is Dob”

“It’s nice to meet you, if you’ve come quite far you’re more than welcome to take a few rooms upstairs, my father would of course love the customers, not a lot of people hanging around here at night”

“Do… you know, hands come out of the ground?”

Zee shook her head “No, we have a wolf problem and people are afraid that the wolves will jump through the windows”

“That’s really odd”

“It’s a long story that I really don’t want to get into right now” Zee said, shaking her head “But if you follow me, I can show you some books, it might help your friend”

****************

Corazón made his way down the stairs of the tavern, still hearing the protests of the people who refused to leave, who refused to heed Suzette’s warnings, he stopped at the landing and the half-orc spotted him. 

“Everyone stay where you are” she said “Just stay put” she approached him, putting her hand out to let him know she was no threat “What did you do?”

He said nothing, thinking momentarily about the man upstairs who he kept forgetting, who was lying on the floor in immense and unending pain, who was only trying to help him…

“I think I killed him”

Suzette paused “What did you _do?”_

He thought about it, what _did_ he do? He was accessing magical abilities he shouldn’t have the right to use, gifts given to him by The Great Old One; the question was a simple one but he found himself unable, or unwilling to answer.

Suzette inched forward “Do you want to move so I can check on him?”

Corazón shook his head, he became very aware of the eyes of the tavern patrons on him, they were terrified of him. He looked at his hands and back at Suzette. 

“Do you know what you have to do?” he asked her, she shook her head.

“Just think”

It took a moment but her eyes lit up with a recognition as his words sunk in, she took an unsteady step back and shook her head “No, I can’t do that… you can’t ask me to do that”

“There’s nobody else here, there will be more danger”

“I’m not going to kill you!” Suzette shouted “Don’t ask me to do that, I’m just a scientist!”

Corazón extended his hand towards the wall and in an instant, six people who had been sitting close together were nothing but dust, the eldritch power leaving only a fire and scorch marks behind, there were only several people left inside the tavern, and one of them started to run. 

“No!” Suzette screamed as they made way for the door, the moment they stepped outside one of the decrepit looking hands shot out of the ground and squeezed them until blood was running down the disembodied appendage, they dragged what was left of the body into the ground and the door slammed shut.

She grabbed a dagger from her pocket and brandished it outwardly at Corazón, who raised an eyebrow in confusion

“I thought you said you were a scientist”

“I lived in a forest full of rabid animals, of course I have a dagger! And I’ll use this on you if you even think of it”

One of the last remaining people in the tavern started crying gently and clinging onto who he was with, Corazón assumed it was his girlfriend, she looked at him “You’re a monster” she said

He thought about that for a minute, he remembered the tentacles of Cthulhu wrapping themselves around him, the endless cold that he felt when the entity had him in his grasps, he felt a shudder go up his spine as he recalled.

“Don’t.. call…him… that…” a voice said from the stairs, Corazón looked up and saw the older man, he was shaking and had pulled the scratchy blanket from the bed upstairs around himself “That’s my son” he stammered and tried to make his way down the rest of the stairs but lost his balance, both Corazón and Suzette rushed forward to help steady him and get him into a booth

“Are you alright, Mr Milquetoast?” Suzette asked

“Lord… and I’m a little shaky. I’ll be fine”

“What did he do to you?”

The man shook his head, his teeth chattering… “This is not his fault, please don’t blame him”

“How the hell is this not his fault!?” one of the remaining patrons asked “He’s possessed, he’s killed half of us… And we can’t even leave cause the moment we leave this tavern those fuckin’ hands out there…” the man shuddered at the thought of them. “I say that wizard dies”

The man grabbed one of the cutlery used for the food served at the tavern and held it out in a threatening way “Tell me one good reason I shouldn’t kill this bastard right now”

“He’s not a bastard, he’s _my son”_ the man pushed Suzette away and rose from the booth, staring down the man, who for all his failings did not back down.

“He’s done nothing but terrorize people since he got here!” He turned the other remaining members of the group, including the couple and someone Corazón had not noticed at first glance, it was a dark elf, he was taller than the rest even huddled against the wall and he was… different.

Corazón searched through his memories, struggling through the deep waters of his mind and the horrific screaming of the ones who failed Cthulhu, he recalled the ship docking and the group coming into the tavern, the faces of the people.. there were fourteen people in total including the tavern keeper… He killed six people, there should be eight left. 

He looked again, there were nine people in the group and he let out a sharp gasp as he saw what the dark elf was hiding, he was always there in the tavern, in fact….

“It was you” Corazón felt his anger in being out of control, in hurting others rise to an all time high as he saw this man “You started this”

Suzette looked where Corazón was looking and spotted the dark elf, she then looked back to Corazón “What are you talking about?”

“He started this” Corazón felt his own emotions returning to the surface of his mind, not the emotions of others, not the pain and agony that Cthulhu wanted him to hear and feel, but his own.. “The hands, the sky.. you did this”

The dark elf stepped forward with a smug look on his face, he stood away from the group and presented everyone with a bow “I didn’t think you’d notice, you and your friends seem all too consumed with yourselves”

Suzette tightened her grip on the dagger she had brandished earlier at Corazón while the dark elf grabbed Corazón by the hand.

“You stay here alone, with not one of them by your side… Did you not think this was your eventual reality?”

Corazón felt a chill, like ice piercing through his skin and he was overwhelmed with pain, he fell to his knees…

_Is this what I did to my father?_

Without warning, the elf shot a blast of dark magic towards the rest of the group who didn’t have a single chance to survive it, there was nothing left, even the dust left from eldritch blast was more than Corazón could say for these people, it was almost like they never existed

Suzette let out a loud gasp and backed away a little towards the booth, and Corazón, kneeling on the floor was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Ever since your little group formed you have been changing the balance, I cannot allow that, you must face repercussions.” 

Corazón had questions, but the ice was piercing his throat and making him unable to speak, the man smiled and let him go, brushing against Suzette and Corazón’s father on the way to the door. 

“My name is Malus, and I’ll be seeing you _all_ again”

Corazón had a sudden flashback of Liliana who had spent quite some time after the guild, targeting them all but with a specific fixation on Egbert. Corazón felt himself weaken further as the man walked through the door and he nearly passed out, Suzette and his father knelt beside him.

“What the hell was that?” Suzette asked

“I have no idea” he shook his head “But I… I strangely feel more like myself now..” he started shaking “I’m cold..”

His father and Suzette helped him up “We’ll get you upstairs to a bed” Lord Milquetoast said “And, Suzette, can you see if there’s anything here to make tea?”

The half-orc nodded and Corazón was led upstairs to a different room and a different bed, his father helped him and sat on the edge of the bed “I think you should get some rest, whatever hold is on you isn’t over, you may feel like yourself but you don’t look it”

“It’s not such a strong pull from Cthulhu anymore, I feel like… the pact is broken”

His father put his arm around him and Corazón felt tired enough to fall asleep against him

“Father?”

“Yes, Percy?”

“I’m sorry I tried to kill you twice”

“You were not in control of what you were doing, I would be a fool to not forgive you”

They sat in silence for a while until Suzette brought up a tray with three cups of tea and a little bit of food “I found what I could that hadn’t gone off” she set the tray on the floor and sat on the other side of it.

“Have you ever seen that man before?” she asked Corazón, he shook his head

“Well he seemed to know of you”

“I know this is important and all, but can you let him rest? He’s been through quite a lot” Lord Milquetoast said

Suzette made a face “Very strange, you’re not at all like my brother described you in his letter, he said you were mean and a jerk and not a very nice father”

“That’s fair”

Corazón fell asleep while listening to them talk, the first time he had been able to sleep in some time, he still felt a cold chill and a slight grasp of the Great Old One, but something was different, and he didn’t like it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally nothing I write is trying to step on any actual canon, I know a lot of these spells are not used by their respective characters, but I try to find logical ways around that for the sake of story.


End file.
